Ann M. Donnelly
How Judge Donnelly decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
She enforces threshold procedural prerequisites strictly even when the merits might favor the non-movant: a federal civil-rights suit by a Rikers detainee fails at summary judgment for non-exhaustion under the PLRA where the inmate filed a grievance but never appealed the non-response.
“The record shows that the plaintiff did not exhaust his administrative remedies. Accordingly, the Court denies the plaintiff's motion and grants the defendants' motion.”
Procedural preferences
She applies statutes of limitation and their saving provisions by their plain text even when she finds the result harsh: missing the CPLR 205(a) six-month service window by six days forecloses the saving statute, and CPLR 306-b discretion cannot be used to revive otherwise time-barred claims.
“The Court is mindful of the consequences of its decision, which will deprive the plaintiff of an adjudication on the merits, which he deserved. ... Under the plain text of the statute, service on May 2 was simply too late.”
On unobjected-to magistrate R&Rs she reviews for clear error and adopts them -- and she polices default-judgment practice closely, demanding strict Local Rule 55.2 service compliance and genuine Article III standing before any default will issue.
“As Judge Bulsara observed, counsel's assurances to the contrary do not satisfy Rule 55. ... I find that Judge Bulsara's thorough and well-reasoned opinion contains no clear error, and I adopt the Report and Recommendation in its entirety.”
Cautions
Do not try to escape an adverse magistrate R&R by filing a Rule 41(a)(1) notice of voluntary dismissal: once the merits have been squarely litigated, she will vacate the notice under Harvey Aluminum rather than let a plaintiff take 'several bites at the apple.'
“Allowing the plaintiff to bypass this procedure would perpetuate procedural 'abuses' that Rule 41(a)(1) was designed to 'limit.' ... I vacate the plaintiff's notice of voluntary dismissal and adopt the Report and Recommendation in its entirety.”
A serial-style ADA Title III or other 'intent to return' standing allegation must be pleaded with particularity (when/how often visited, proximity to home, concrete plans to return); conclusory recitations of the legal test will not establish injury-in-fact and will sink even an unopposed default motion.
“Without these details, the plaintiff has not established an 'imminent and substantial' risk of injury.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Summary judgment N = 2 |
Granted: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to dismiss N = 2 |
Granted: 2 | counts only |
| Default judgment N = 2 |
Denied: 2 | counts only |
| Motion to consolidate N = 1 |
Moot / procedural: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For these reasons, the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is denied and the defendants' motion for summary judgment is granted.”
“For these reasons, the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is denied and the defendants' motion for summary judgment is granted.”
“For these reasons, the defendant's motion to dismiss is granted. The plaintiff's motion to consolidate is denied as moot.”
“The plaintiff's motion to consolidate is denied as moot.”
“For these reasons, the defendant's motion to dismiss is granted. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to enter judgment, close this action, and mail a copy of this order to the plaintiff.”
“For the following reasons, I adopt the Report and Recommendation in its entirety, and grant the plaintiff leave to amend the complaint.”
“The plaintiff's motion for default judgment is denied without prejudice, but the plaintiff may amend its complaint within thirty days and, if appropriate, renew its request for default judgment.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
An active (non-senior) Brooklyn E.D.N.Y. judge with a busy mixed civil/criminal docket. The 2026 intake is dominated by a surge of 463 alien-detainee habeas corpus petitions (immigration-detention challenges), alongside FLSA/NYLL wage-and-hour suits, ADA Title III access cases, trademark/consumer-fraud matters, prisoner 2255 petitions, and criminal cases. Her older (2016-2019) docket sample is heavily 'In Re' miscellaneous attorney-discipline/reciprocal matters plus criminal cases; these mc dockets stay open for years administratively and are NOT representative of contested-case duration. Marquee criminal matter: United States v. R. Kelly (sex-trafficking conviction; 30-year sentence 2022).